


I will be your errand girl (can I hold you forever?)

by Kendrene



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Eventual Smut, F/F, Light Angst, mercenary Kara Danvers, the assassin's creed crossover nobody asked me for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:53:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28548930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendrene/pseuds/Kendrene
Summary: When Lena comes to Megara looking for her brother, she soon realizes she will need a warrior's help to survive.ORAssassin's Creed Odyssey but make it supercorp
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 28
Kudos: 385





	I will be your errand girl (can I hold you forever?)

**Author's Note:**

> Another story nobody asked for.
> 
> \- Dren
> 
> Inspired by [this comic](https://iwishicoulddrawheatherforaliving.tumblr.com/post/624540375323934720/life-better-spent-in-your-arms/) by @iwishicoulddrawheatherforaliving on Tumblr

Megara baked slowly under the midday sun. 

Too far inland to benefit from sea breezes, surrounded by rolling hills and dense woodland, the city sat at the bottom of a natural, heat-trapping valley where relief from the sweltering summer blaze could not be found. 

City might be too generous a term, Lena surmised as she threaded her way through the crowded marketplace, mood worsening by the minute. The drab green cloak she’d donned before venturing outside was spun from the lightest linen  _ drachmae  _ could buy, but the deep hood — while efficient in shadowing her features — did nothing against the heat. 

Still, sweat was a small price to pay if it meant she’d keep her life. 

It had been three days since a nondescript fellow had tried to slip a dagger into her back whilst she walked these same cobbled streets. Then, her head had been bare and her clothing richer. She was posing as a merchant who traded in spices and perfumed oils, mother-of-pearl and of the other riches coming from Persia and beyond. Lena had to look the part. 

Even though an unscrupulous cutpurse was the most likely explanation — the war between Athens and Sparta had all sorts of people swarming into town from the battle-torn countryside — Lena couldn’t shake the feeling that the attack had been of darker nature. 

One month spent in Megara had not yielded any news of Lex’s whereabouts, but she must have come close to something if they’d bothered to send a (very inept) assassin after her. 

_ They  _ being… whoever they were.

In taking action against her whoever her brother had gotten involved with had given Lena all the proof she needed. This was not a useless endeavor, and Lex wasn’t simply doing business with unsavory partners. There was something more behind all this, something worse, and if she wanted to press forward she needed adequate protection.

It was what had pushed her to leave the relative safety of the villa she had leased on the town’s outskirts. Guards came with the contract, but they were little more than brutes with clubs. Good to keep a burglar out, but not to escort Lena in her travels. A  _ misthios  _ was what she had come to the market to look for, but taking in her surroundings she started to despair. 

The colorful awnings shading the stalls couldn’t disguise how poor the market really was. Armies marching through the land meant burnt fields and butchered herds. Confiscated crops. What little fruits and vegetables the farmers had salvaged for sale were bitterly fought over, and the same went for the few chickens clucking in the dirt. Of the pigs and cows that would normally add their braying to the din there was no trace. 

While most were content to part with their goods for other kinds of food — six eggs for a jar of olive oil, a sack of grain for a hen — a few merchants demanded exorbitant sums in exchange for their wares. From the cut of their clothing and their accents these were foreigners like Lena, merchants whose homes were far and still untouched by war. 

A few called to her as she went by, pitching a sale, but she ignored them all. At the more insistent ones she openly sneered, and they shrunk away as if she’d physically struck them. They ought to thank the gods for the fact Lena had to keep an inconspicuous profile — otherwise she’d have been tempted to call them out on the blatant extortion. 

She found what she was looking for at the heart of the market. A statue of Helios rose in the middle of the square, a young man hewn from white marble wearing a crown as golden as the rays of the sun he oversaw. Next to it a wooden board had been erected on which everyone, from commoner to noble, could pin scraps of parchment listing jobs. Provided they had coin to offer in exchange for the services requested, obviously.

Every city Lena had been to had such a place, and here sellswords gathered like wolves hungry for  _ drachmae _ . 

The sorry group that greeted her arrival were best described as mangy, flea-bitten dogs to be honest, but perhaps the Lyceia would favor her today and guide her as true as one of her arrows. 

A few of the mercenaries were arguing over the best contracts, while others had claimed a space to wrestle and play dice among themselves. Money changed hands more rapidly than Lena could follow, and as she watched a few scuffles over trivial disputes broke out. 

To the last man, the thugs reeked of cheap wine and unwashed bodies, and although one or two did seem truly dangerous, the majority was no better than the guards already in her service. 

Uncouth and rowdy, they’d attract the kind of attention Lena was so desperately trying to avoid. 

“This is  _ not  _ the agreed payment.” A woman’s voice reached her ears, sharp with barely restrained irritation. “You had promised double the amount.” 

“I know,  _ misthios _ , and you have my deepest apologies. But the war, you see, has cut into—” 

“Your finances? How convenient for you this was not a problem a fortnight ago when you hired me.” Each word held the threatening hiss of a blade leaving its sheath, and Lena shivered.

“Please, warrior. I—” 

_ There! _

Turning in a tight circle, Lena finally spotted the owner of the voice. 

A woman, her wheat-colored hair braided down her back. Taller than most men Lena had met, she towered over the other mercenaries, putting them to shame not only in stature but also by how she held herself. 

If the others gathered here were dogs she was a lioness, the slight slouch of her shoulders a mark of false meekness. A born warrior this one was — Lena’s father had had such a bodyguard at his service, and she’d learned to recognize a well trained soldier when she saw one. 

“I ought to run you through as an example.” The  _ misthios  _ said as Lena drew near. “War is no excuse to lie. I would have taken the job anyway, if you had explained where you stood with coin from the beginning. Now I feel cheated out of what I’m owed, and tempted to take extra. Your life to start.” 

“No, no! Please.” The one who had contracted her — one of the merchants Lena so despised — gestured placatingly. He had gone mildly green around the eyes, and swayed in place a little, like he was about to faint. “I’m sure we can reach an agreement!” 

“I’ll cover what he owes you.” Lena interjected. “Double it if you agree to work for me.” 

The warrior, who hadn’t noticed she was standing at her shoulder until then, spun around wide-eyed, a hand flying to the hilt of the blade at her side.

“I’ll—” Whatever else Lena was going to do was lost in a breathy exhale. She was staring into eyes of pure sapphire. Bluer than the sky above their heads. Deeper than the waters of the Aegean sea. Her tongue became useless and thick in her mouth. Dry like the husk of a dead animal. “I’ll—” 

“Yes?” The  _ misthios _ bent down, peering into the depths of Lena’s hood. She was smiling, as if she knew exactly the effect that she was having. “Your words interest me. Please do go on.” 

***

Coming to Megaris had been a mistake. 

Kara had thought that with the war brewing on the region’s borders — where it hadn’t already spilled across — work would be plentiful. Unrest meant people in need of protection, or more simply, people in need. 

While that theory was proven true, the majority seemed as eager to hire a blade as they were reluctant to part with their money. 

Which of course meant Kara had worked twice as much as she did normally, but earned half her usual rates. 

She could hear Alex laughing in her head. Her half-sister had called her foolish for the risk she was taking, putting herself in the middle of it all. As though openly working with Sparta wasn’t just as dangerous. 

“I’ll cover what he owes you.” The voice that cut through her angry tirade belonged to a woman. It made Kara think of silk rustling on naked skin, and secluded waterfalls in summer. “I’ll double it, if you agree to work for me.”

Doing the math in her head came naturally, like breathing. 

Kara wasn’t as attached to coin as most in her profession — she’d rescued a kitten from a tree free of charge for a small girl just two days prior — but  _ drachmae  _ were… motivational. Especially for someone planning to book passage away from Megara as soon as possible. 

She whirled around so fast the newcomer stumbled back a step, her hand closing around the worn hilt of her xiphos out of habit. 

Despite the hood obscuring her face, Kara perceived no threat in the woman. A sharpness, yes, a keen mind certainly hiding behind eyes she knew where staring into hers even though she couldn’t see them, but no immediate danger. 

“Do go on.” It was a wonder she could speak at all, truly. The woman’s sudden motion had disturbed her hood, and it had fallen back a little. Not so far that her face was fully revealed, but enough for Kara to glimpse a severe jaw, the curve of a mouth that while currently displeased seemed soft and made for kissing. 

A slender hand rose, tugging the hood forward, and even though she bent her head a little — the stranger was a good hand shorter than she — Kara didn’t get to see more of her. But — oh, sweet Aphrodites be her witness — how she wanted to! 

“You inter—” She managed to hide the slip-up behind a bout of simulated cough. “Your words interest me.” Having caught wind there was money to be made, a few of the sellswords drifted closer, prompting her to glare. “But not here. Out of the sun, perhaps? In front of some food and drink, maybe?” 

The merchant that had failed to pay what he’d promised began to slink away, but Kara let him go. It was clear she wasn’t gonna squeeze more  _ drachmae  _ out of him, not without baring iron — something which she was extremely loath to do.

“There is a tavern near the temple.” Her new employer suggested, moving in that direction without waiting for an answer. “We’ll find plenty of shade there.” 

“Uhm, yeah.” Kara knew exactly which place she was talking about. “That’s a tad out of my price range.” 

It was the inn the merchants frequented — the ones with enough money to afford a mercenary  _ and  _ drinks at the same time. The most refined establishment in Megara. 

The seedier spots on the town’s outskirts were more to her tastes; besides she wasn’t exactly welcomed where the woman was about to take her. Cat had made that abundantly clear after the last broken nose. 

“Don’t worry.” A note of amusement entered the stranger’s voice, and Kara, who would fight a wolf bare-handed without hesitation, blushed redder than a Spartan’s cloak. “I will pay for your food too.” 

***

“And here I thought I’d made myself clear.” The tavern’s owner blocked Lena’s path as soon as they set foot inside. “But look what the cat’s brought in.” 

Wrongfooted, Lena blinked. Opened her mouth for a retort — what she’d say she wasn’t sure — then closed it, realizing the woman’s ire was directed at the  _ misthios,  _ not at her. 

“That’s funny, because your name is—” Kara, as she’d introduced herself on the way here, started with a snort, only to be cut off by a finger being wagged rather aggressively under her nose.

“I know you want to finish that sentence, I do.” The innkeep — Cat, most certainly — had to crane her neck to properly address her, and still she made it look as though she was the taller one between them. “But think. Is it in your best interests?” 

“Uhm… Probably… not?” 

“Good girl.” Shifting her attention to Lena, the innkeeper softened a fraction. "She's loyal, but a bit thick-skulled." 

"Hey!" Lena was sure that Kara's glare was frightening on a battlefield, but Cat seemed thoroughly unimpressed. There was clear history between them, but Lena had no time or patience for it. 

"A table, preferably somewhere a bit private, plus food and drink for us both." She pressed several coins into Cat's hand, effectively ending further arguments.

"This way." 

It was nearly noon and the tables were starting to fill, merchants and craftsmen mostly. Even a few priests from the nearby temple.

A few followed her progress with curiosity, after all her being hooded in this heat was an uncommon sight, but one glance at Kara lurking behind her like a second, dangerous shadow was enough to deflect further scrutiny.

The extra  _ drachmae  _ she'd been sure to pile on Cat's palm bought them a table in the tavern's courtyard, and cups of watered wine as soon as they were seated. Plates of food before they’d really settled down to talk. 

Lena wasn't particularly hungry — everything she'd eaten since the assassination attempt tasted of ash — but watching the  _ misthios _ dig in was worth every coin she’d spent this far. 

“Are you sure she didn’t spit in your food?” Kara froze halfway through her second roasted chicken to consider. “I’m just asking because she looked like she wanted to.” 

“She wouldn’t.” Still the  _ misthios  _ eyed the chicken thigh for a long moment, went as far as to sniff it. Like that could help her tell. “Anyway I’m too hungry to care.” She bit into the meat to demonstrate, juices and fat running down her chin. 

The sight was messy but, somehow, endearing. 

Lena couldn’t blame her for taking the risk. The food, what little she’d managed to push down, was good. The best she’d had in a while. 

“May I see your face?” Kara asked eventually, leaning on her elbows with a satisfied sigh. A pile of chicken bones lay abandoned on her plate. “Nobody is looking our way if it helps. And I’d like to look the person I’m supposed to be working for in the eye.” Seeing as Lena was not moving to accommodate her request, she added. “Not that I’ve accepted, since I have no idea what you need me for. I don’t do murder by the way.” 

When they sat down, the mercenary had taken the outward-facing stool, and her eyes had never really lingered on a place for long throughout the meal. To an onlooker she would have appeared engrossed in her food, but Lena had known better. Nobody was going to catch this one unaware, that was for sure. 

By extension, she was safe for the time being. 

Nodding slowly, she shook off the hood. It was a relief. 

The tavern was higher uphill than the market square, and a small breeze breathed through the courtyard. Not much, but enough for Lena to heave a grateful sigh. 

“Is everything alright?” Kara was staring at her with an expression that could only be described as dumbstruck. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes had gone round. This close, Lena could pick out specks of gold swimming in the blue, like sunlight shimmering atop open waters. “Did you expect something different?” 

“No!” The question seemed to rouse her from whatever stupor she’d fallen prey to. “You’re beau— I mean, fine! You’re fine! It’s fine, really.” The more words tumbled from her lips, the tinier her voice grew. “Fine.” She finished, looking at everything but Lena. “Really, really so  _ fine _ .” 

“Well, then.” Not knowing what to make of her reaction, Lena pulled the hood back up. It felt suffocating now and far too tight, but the fact they had this part of the courtyard to themselves wasn’t a good reason to take chances. “Shall we talk business?” 

“Yes. Right.” Kara sat up a little straighter, and pushed the plate with the debris out of the way. “How may I be of service?” 

***

_ How may I be of service? _

Lena had wanted to ask whether Kara told that to every pretty woman she came across, but thought better of it. 

Instead she relayed as much of her story as she dared, coasting the truth without revealing it completely. 

Kara was competent, that much had been clear as she escorted Lena back to the villa, but her loyalties hinged on a full purse. Lena was willing to trust, but only so much.

She told Kara a few things. Her name. That she had family in Thessalia, rich people with connections. That her brother, after having left their home claiming he was about to secure a new trade contract, had disappeared.

Lena was looking for him.

"And in a month I have found nothing." Untrue. There had been a few clues, which were now gathered in the locked chest at the foot of her bed, but nothing she could make sense of.

Nothing she believed she should mention.

"I have sent word to a few of our family contacts. Old friends and business partners. Corinth, Elis, Athens. It was news from another trader that brought me here in the first place, and I'm waiting to hear back from the others, but with the war…"

"It could take weeks." They had reached the villa without incident, and behind walls Kara appeared more relaxed. At ease, as much as one with a sword on her hip could be. 

“Yes.” Lena wondered whether she should mention the assassin, discarding the idea the moment it came to her. 

She had no proof the man was truly after her, aside from paranoia, and didn’t want Kara to think she was one who jumped at shadows. “I should have mentioned it may be tedious work for you until I get some news. I hope you won’t mind.” 

“Not at all. I could use a little quiet.” Kara smiled wider than she had that far, and it was enough to wipe whatever else Lena was about to say clean off of her mind. 

Maybe that same smile would work on the next blade-wielding thug, should it materialize. 

***

Twelve days. 

Twelve days of idle mornings, and quiet walks in the vineyard adjoining the villa. 

Twelve days of shared meals, during which Kara did her best to ignore how green-blue Lena’s eyes were, and tried to keep up with her witty conversation. 

Mostly she scraped by and managed to not look  _ too _ dumb. 

When Lena was busy with other things; her correspondence, for example, Kara trained in the yard. 

Idleness led to softness if left unchecked, and a soft bodyguard made for lousy protection. So she trained, no matter how hot the days became, and even roped a few of the villa’s guards into it as sparring partners. They were not much of a threat taken singularly, but together they kept her reflexes sharp and her ribs bruised. 

Sometimes, Lena watched her from the shade, glittering eyes tracking every motion, each flick of the wooden blade Kara used when sparring with another. Her gaze had the weight of an intimate caress down Kara’s back, the feathery feeling of kisses planted to her neck. 

She made it extremely hard to concentrate, and having caught her grinning as she watched a couple of times, Kara was convinced the woman knew what she was doing.

In those occasions Kara smiled back, welcoming the challenge.

***

Lena hadn’t meant to catch Kara in the bath, she really hadn’t. 

Whoever built the villa, had bridled water from a nearby spring so that it filled a natural pool before flowing downhill, toward the city. 

The water would still be warm from the sun, but pleasing when compared to the heat strangling the land. 

Having been cooped up inside writing letters for the majority of the day Lena was looking forward to a quick dip before dinner, so much so that she didn’t notice Kara until it was too late. 

The  _ misthios  _ was just emerging from the pool, gloriously naked and dripping everywhere. Haloed in copper by the setting sun she was resplendent, and Lena failed to tear her gaze away. 

A soft gasp must have escaped her, because Kara’s head whipped up, eyes comically round. 

“Oh…”

“Oh, Gods above I am so sorry.” Lena took a hasty step back. Too hasty by half. She felt her sandaled foot slip on the wet tile, her body begin to tilt backwards — immediately past the point of no return. 

She’d have taken a spectacular tumble, if not for Kara moving to catch her faster than Hermes himself. Lena didn’t know whether that was worse, for she ended up pressed against the naked  _ misthios _ and what she’d just dreamed about so far became impossible to brush off with a shrug. 

“Don’t be.” Kara's tone was scratchy, as though her throat had grown too tight to hold the words. “Don’t—” 

If Kara had brought their lips together then, Lena would have offered no resistance

High overhead a bird screeched, the sound so shrill and unexpected in the evening quiet that it ripped the two of them apart.

“I should get dressed.” Kara was blushing a vivid red, eyes now firmly planted on the colorful tiles at Lena’s feet. “I’ll leave you to... whatever you were about to do.” 

Lena wanted to call her back. Tell her to stay, but her voice was stuck somewhere in her chest, like fishbones. 

***

Fifteen days before one of her acquaintances wrote back. 

Lex had been sighted in Delphi — or somebody resembling him at any rate. 

The message came to Lena in the morning, lightning forking through a clear sky when hope for rain had long passed. 

It was the most welcome string of words she’d ever laid eyes upon, saving her from days made of awkward silences and half started conversations. Lena  _ wanted  _ Kara, and there was no doubt inside her mind that Kara burned for her the same way. 

They just didn’t talk about it. 

“You must be glad to be on the road soon.” Lena mused idly as they discussed how to best reach Phokis. “I realize it must be odd, such a stretch of quiet for someone who lives by the sword.”

“Maybe, but it wasn’t unwelcome. When you live through neverending war, moments of peace become all the more precious.” Kara’s smile was wavery, like a glimpse of sunlight underwater. She seemed on the verge to say more, but bit her lip instead, choosing to stay quiet. 

Lena wanted to scream, or tear her own hair out. Maybe both. 

“Well, it seems like a ship is the safest way, just like you suggested.” Securing passage wasn’t going to be a problem. “You’ll have more idle time while we cross to Phokis.” A short voyage, but these days even short trips were fraught with peril.

“And good company.” Kara had inched closer, enough that Lena could smell her. Light sweat, dust from the misthios’s morning training. There was something gritty about it, but not unclean. Just the sign of hard work.

Lena entertained herself with the thought of sluicing water down Kara’s well-toned back to wash the dust away, and only came back to her senses when she politely cleared her throat.

Kara was peering at her intently, brow shadowed by concern. She had to stoop a little in order to do so, which put her face even closer to Lena’s. 

They’d not been in each other’s space this way since the night of the bath, and she held her breath, utterly still. Afraid that if she’d move she’d scare Kara away again. 

Curious that someone so big and imposing could be this skittish. A deer, scared of the hunter closing in. 

She was about to do something foolish, like place her hand on Kara’s forearm to name the first thing that popped into her mind, when one of the other guards interrupted them, announcing that the ship captain Lena had asked to see was waiting in the vestibule.

The moments of peace Kara talked about appeared to be as scarce as they were fleeting.

***

They were to leave Megara the next morning, and Lena couldn’t sleep. 

Night had brought little relief, a slight breeze that felt more like mockery than anything substantial and smelled faintly of smoke. Why that was, Lena didn’t want to think of. 

She just lay there in the dark, tossing and turning. Running through the list of tasks she’d given herself. Obsessive as she looked for a fault in their plans, or something she might have forgotten. 

The villa’s owner had been notified of their departure, the guards given a handful of  _ drachmae _ each. It was not enough to buy their silence altogether, but hopefully they’d be too busy spending it on wine and whores to flap their mouths about hers and Kara’s whereabouts. 

As for the wares she had not been able to sell on such a short notice — mostly linen and uncarded wool — Lena left to the villa’s owner as a gift. Oiling the gears a little, she’d explained to a flabbergasted Kara, in case they needed somewhere to return to. 

Passage had been bought, and while the ship she’d chosen was not the fastest anchored in Nisaia’s port, it sailed under Sparta’s protection. Despite Athens interference, their forces held complete sway in Phokis, including the Oracle at Delphi. Therefore, the ship was likely to reach that coast unmolested. 

Lastly, a fire in the courtyard had taken care of what documents she had no need to bring. Burning them efficiently covered her tracks.

There was nothing more she could have done, she told herself, kicking the light sheet to the floor. It didn’t help, and neither did sleeping without clothes. She had at least hoped Kara would wander in on her, making it worth it even if it was not likely to happen. 

And it hadn’t, but she couldn’t be faulted for trying.

Restlessness was her salvation.

Had Lena been asleep she’d not have glimpsed the shadow creeping toward the bed. She’d not have seen the glint of the knife, and how the blade arched down, swinging for her neck.

But she was awake, and she  _ did  _ see. 

The smartest thing was to scream, and Lena tried. She did her best, but what rolled from her lips was just a croak. 

_ Pathetic _ .

She was going to die.  _ She was going to die _ . She was gonna— 

Lena’s eyes screwed shut. 

Then, somehow, Kara was there. In a blur of silvered-gold, impossible to follow, she grabbed the assassin by the back of the neck, throwing him across the room with the strength of a demi-god. 

He smacked into the nearest wall back first, grunting in pain, but was on his feet a heartbeat later, somehow shaking off the agony he surely was in. 

The way he moved, Lena realized. Catlike and full of grace. Just like Kara. 

This was no common cutthroat, but a man trained in his craft. 

They traded blows so fast Lena could barely pick them apart, before ending on the floor where they scrabbled for possession of the knife. 

What hit Lena the hardest was how  _ quiet _ it all was. 

There was the sound of breaking furniture, of course, marking their progress across the floor, but Kara and the murderer were silent. There was no warcry, no threats flung at the opponent. Every part of them was focused on survival.

It ended as abruptly as it had begun. A wet snap. The crack of a neck breaking. It made her sick with both horror and relief. 

“Are you alright?” Kara stood on trembling legs, chest heaving. A bruise purpled her right cheekbone, and the front of the tunic she must have hastily put on was torn, revealing the curve of her breast. 

It looked surprisingly soft, and Lena ached to run her fingers along Kara’s ribs. 

“Lena?” Something dripped down Lena’s arm. A rivulet of blood snaking from a cut she hadn’t realized was there until Kara’s eyes focused on it. The assassin must have managed a glancing hit before Kara wrenched him off of her. 

“Gods, you’re bleeding! Let me—” 

Kara rushed forward, hands outstretched, and the world lurched right alongside her.  _ It’s nothing _ , Lena meant to say.  _ A silly scratch _ . But cold sweat sheened her body, and the floor heaved beneath her bare feet, bucking like a ship in the clutches of a storm. 

She was no stranger to death, having seen her father waste away from sickness, but a violent end… it was another matter altogether. 

Something snapped under Kara’s foot, drawing her attention. 

“What’s this?” Crouching down, she sifted through the mess strewn across the floor with shaking fingers. 

The chest at the foot of Lena’s bed had been upturned, the top of it smashed to splinters. A mask lay among the pieces of broken wood and shredded parchments. 

Lena had found it with her brother’s things, and because she’d never seen it before, she’d taken it along. It seemed precious, and Lex did have a fascination with odd things, but he’d kept it in the same box where he filed his most important documents. It must have some significance for him. A clue to where he may have gone to.

“Are you one of them?” Kara rose, holding the mask in a white-knuckled grip. “ _ Are you _ ?” Her expression changed, hardening to stone and it was terrifying. 

Kara’s jaw clenched so hard Lena could hear her teeth starting to crack. The light in her eyes dimmed until they were revealing nothing. From bright blue to the paleness of the snow Lena had only ever heard of from her father, when he talked about his travels.

“I won’t ask you again, Lena.” Her voice wobbled, but on the outside she was cold and unyielding. Lena had wanted to grab the sheet to cover herself, but didn’t dare. “Are you one of them?” 

She swallowed. Hard.

“One of  _ who _ ?” 

***

They were called the Cult of Kosmos. 

“They took my cousin.” Kara explained much later in the vineyard. She’d buried the body there, and Lena had joined her after, bringing water and damp towels with which to wipe her face and hands. “We were children. I’ve been looking for him since. But they are elusive. And dangerous.”

“Yes. I think I gathered that much.” 

“I wish you would have told me about the one in the market. It would have made things easier.” Judging she was clean enough, Kara began the process of putting her armor on. One of them wasn’t going to get anymore sleep it seemed. 

Not that Lena could have fallen asleep if she’d tried. 

“I wasn’t sure. It could have been a cutpurse.” 

“Obviously it wasn’t.” Kara retorted, tugging on leather straps and securing buckles. In the growing light of dawn, the bronze plate shone a muted copper-pink. “Good thing we’re leaving today.” 

“Indeed.” 

They fell quiet, the silence between them stretching until Lena had to break it or risk going mad. 

“What about… after?” She hadn’t wanted to ask, but it was necessary. “When we arrive in Phokis?” She wet suddenly parched lips. “I swear to you Kara, I had no idea what that mask was connected to.” She still didn’t know whether Lex was a victim of this cult, sharing in Kara’s cousin’s fate, or if he was part of it. 

After their father had died, Lex had changed. He’d withdrawn, and the smiling boy Lena remembered from their childhood was gone. Locked away where grief could not hurt him, perhaps, or purposefully removed. 

Lena wanted to think the best of him, despite some of the company he kept, but— 

The truth was she didn’t trust him anymore. And Kara was looking at her the same way. Like she was staring at a stranger, or truly seeing her for the first time.

“I want to believe you, Lena. But—” 

“You’re not sure.” Lena wanted to argue that, had she been involved, the assassin would have snuck to Kara’s bedside and not hers, but what better way to have the  _ misthios _ trust her than make her think she was a target? 

Lena couldn’t fault her.

“So? What then?” 

“Let us get to Phokis first.” Kara threw one last look to the mound of disturbed earth under which the body lay. Nobody had reason to come digging here, and by the time the harvest came around at the end of fall, he would be mostly rot. “I’ll have made up my mind by then.”

***

The trip took longer than expected. 

Ten days the ship’s captain had guaranteed, which doubled when the wind decided to blow the wrong way or not at all. Rocking the ship until Lena feared it would pitch on its side and sink, or leaving it bereft in azure waters. 

Not that she saw much of either, since she spent most of her time belowdecks, in the cramped cabin the captain had readily parted with once she’d filled his purse with coins. 

Above there were sun and salt-edged air. Freedom and light. 

And Kara. 

Lena had done her utmost to avoid the  _ misthios  _ — which was not an easy task, considering the limited space the trireme allowed for. She’d told herself she was giving Kara space to make up her mind, but the truth was that her distrust had hurt. Much more than Lena cared to admit. 

On the sixteenth day of travel, the coast of Phokis a brown smear on the horizon, there was a knock at the cabin door. It was little more than a thin partition, the wood so warped in places that Lena could glimpse the dark belly of the ship beyond, but she’d take what little privacy she could have wherever she could find it.

“If the captain sent you to tell me land has been sighted, I already heard.” Lena answered absently, without bothering to rise. Cheers had filled the air when the lookout announced they had spotted the coast. Impossible to miss.

She had discovered that when the wind  _ did _ blow, the rocking of the ship made her a little nauseous (a problem she could have sworn she’d never had before), and lying on the cabin’s narrow cot made it better. 

“Lena, it’s me.” Kara’s voice was rough, as if she’d not spoken to anyone since coming aboard. “I’ve made up my mind.”

She immediately sat up.

“Come in.” The words had Lena’s heart in a clutch. It smashed against her ribs as forcefully as the waves against the prow, and she felt that all breath was being squeezed out of her lungs. 

“I can’t work for you anymore.” Having shut the door behind her back, Kara put a leather purse on the small desk the captain piled his maps on. It clinked, heavy with  _ drachmae _ . 

“What’s—” 

“It’s the advance you gave me. I can’t accept it because…” Kara paused, eyes serious. “Because I can’t do this thing for you. Looking for your brother. Not when I mean to do it with you. As… forgive me if this is too forward, but—” She was blushing, Lena could tell even in the gloom. “As partners, if you would consider me as such.”

“You mean—” Lena knew what she wanted to ask. Clarification. But her words refused to fall in the correct order, defying her efforts. 

“Associates!” If there was an extra corner she could use to jump back to, Lena had the feeling Kara would have. “I’d never! I mean— unless you wanted, but I know—!” 

“Nothing.” Lena stood, feeling calmer than she’d been in days. “You don’t know the first thing.” 

Before Kara could say anything more, Lena bunched the front of her tunic in her fist and pulled her in to kiss her. 

It wasn’t the first time she had kissed someone. There had been a stableboy, sloppy in his eagerness, and after, the daughter of a family friend. With Andrea it had been sweet, soft touches and giggles in the dark.

A summer dream that couldn’t last.

It wasn’t her first kiss but it hit Lena the same way. That little  _ oh _ , that flutter of surprise inside her chest. She exhaled in Kara’s mouth, telling herself this was foolish. Brash and stupid when they needed to keep their wits about them. 

But Kara’s mouth was opening in welcome against hers, tongue sliding against Lena’s slick and hot, and she could not think past it. 

Kara’s hands rose, calloused fingers cradling her jaw. When Lena had to pull away for a ragged breath, Kara kept on touching her. Tracing her cheeks with her thumb, swiping it across her upper lip. Eyes wide with disbelief, she held Lena to herself as though she was a vision sent to her by the gods. Something unexpected, that she was afraid would disappear if she got distracted. Even for a second. 

“I had wanted to kiss you since the night you found me in the bath.” Kara confessed, pressing her lips to Lena’s knuckles. 

“I’d hoped you would.” Lena followed the statement by kissing Kara again. Harder, mouth slanting against hers. 

Kara responded in kind, deepening the kiss, teeth catching onto Lena’s lower lip. Scraping against it until it stung, then suckling on it to soothe the ache. 

“We’re heading into danger.” Kara breathed against her cheek, leaning in until their foreheads were touching. The tips of their noses too. “Are you sure you want to go on? Chasing after the Cult may very well lead us to our deaths.” 

“If my brother was taken the way your cousin was I will not let them have him.” Lena stated, deciding not to mask the slight tremor in her voice. Denying her fear wasn’t gonna make her brave. “And if he’s part of it I want to stop him. But thank you for asking.”

“I will do all I can to keep you safe.” With a nod, Lena began to tug Kara to the cot. She knew that was true, also. She’d known the moment she’d laid eyes on Kara and picked her instead of any of the other sellswords in Megara. 

“I am not trained in the art of war. But I will do the same.” 

It had seemingly dawned on Kara where they were going, and it was she who tipped Lena into the bed. Her fingers threaded into Lena’s hair, swiftly undoing the lax braid she’d gathered them into to keep them out of her face. Every motion was slow. Deliberate. Kara’s blue eyes never leaving hers, her hands infinitely gentle.

This must be Elysium, Lena thought, as Kara’s weight joined hers on the small cot, making it creak. She had no other explanation for the joy and warmth that spread through her at Kara’s touch. 

For a time, they just lay in one another’s arms, simply kissing. Neither of them in a rush to further things, perhaps too overwhelmed by the sheer intimacy of their mutual closeness to do so. 

They broke apart only to gasp and relieve their burning lungs, but never really pulled away. Some part of them was always touching, maintaining contact. Clasped hands, brushing foreheads, entwined limbs. 

Lena wondered how she had managed to sleep in an empty bed this long. She couldn’t bear to move away from Kara, not even for a second. Maybe the  _ misthios _ wasn’t the only one fearing this was only a mirage. 

For her part, Kara seemed to share her feelings, because she didn’t try to untangle from Lena’s embrace — to undress her for example. Instead, she kept her so close, one arm slung around her waist, that Lena could feel every pull of her chest against hers. 

“Can I touch you?” The question, whispered in her ear, helped Lena to realize that her eyes had slipped shut. She’d melted against Kara, safe in the circle of her arms. Unshakable in the belief that nothing bad could harm her as long as she stayed there. 

“Please.” She released a soft breath that was all nervous laughter, pecking Kara on the nose to let her know she was laughing only at herself. “I would like that very much.”

For years she’d fantasized about her first time. Before falling asleep or in the quiet hours of the morning while she stared at the sky changing colors. 

Now that it was finally here, Lena couldn’t help but shift in unease. Kara had certainly traveled further than she could imagine. Experienced things Lena had only heard of. By contrast she felt her inexperience in certain areas with the keenness of an open wound. 

When she was young and still not allowed to leave the house without supervision, Lena took purposeful walks by the servants’ quarters. The women there were not afraid to speak of the topics her mother and her mother’s friend shunned — sex had been among them. 

Mostly, it was who slept with whom. Which of her father’s guards had gotten a girl pregnant. But, sometimes, the women talked about the how. Hushed whispers, smothered giggles. Shreds of conversation Lena had held close to her chest, even though she could make little sense of them. 

“I’ve never… you know.” She wanted to turn her face away, hide it into the lumpy pillow. Kara’s fingers, curled under her chin, didn’t allow it. 

“I can show you.” She promised, a hand dropping to the hem of Lena’s tunic. Sliding underneath, to draw hesitant lines into her skin. “Is this alright?” 

“Yes.” Lena had to stifle another laugh. It tickled a little, but as Kara touched with growing confidence, the feeling shifted to a pleasant sort of heat. And then, when rough knuckles brushed under the curve of her breast, what Lena felt was more similar to a fire, somehow alighting on her skin.

“Can I undress you?” 

Lena’s throat was too parched to answer that with words, and so she nodded, sitting up when Kara’s hands slid under her back, spanning the wings of her shoulder blades. 

As it turned out, she should not have over worried about it all. Her body moved as though it knew exactly where it was meant to be and when, even if her mind didn’t. Lena was grateful. 

Kara had started to kiss her again, tasting of ambrosia, and under the combined onslaught of her mouth and hands, Lena’s thoughts scattered like sheep with a wolf in their midst. 

It was a dance Kara was leading her through, and Lena was quick in learning the steps. Mirroring the  _ misthios _ ’s actions, she found an opening in her tunic through which a hand could slip through, basking in the way Kara’s breath hitched — faster, edged by a whine — when her fingers skated over surprisingly smooth skin. 

Fuelled by their desire, their kisses grew heavier, more desperate. Tinged with a urgency Lena hadn’t known love could possess. 

“Off.” She almost growled when she failed to rip Kara’s tunic from her frame. “Take it off.” She was dimly aware she was already bare — Kara’s eyes roved from her face to her body with the heat of the sun at its zenith — but was too focused on what she wanted to achieve to feel embarrassment of any sort. 

“Alright.” Kara grinned, rising to her knees to pull the garment off in one liquid motion. 

Lena took the momentary respite as an opportunity to study her. She had already gotten quite the handful, but this was different. At the bath, she’d felt like a thief, stealing something she was not supposed to have. Here, catching wind of what she was doing, Kara deliberately stretched. It took only moments to shuck a tunic off, but she bunched it in her hands ever so slowly, exposing her taut belly first, then her breasts, before finally dropping it to the floor by the side of the cot. 

“Show off.” Lena grumbled, but already she was touching Kara’s exposed skin, unable to stop herself. 

The cabin was — of course — windowless, and the only light filtered from the gaps between the deck planks. It was a dusty sort of glow, burnished by the rays of the late afternoon sun. Buttery and sleepy, it touched upon Kara’s bare shoulders like a cloak, highlighting the tan on her skin. She was baked by hours in the sun, and only where she bore the signs of her trade her skin was lighter. Off white with the scarring. 

All of it was healed, but as she traced each injury, feeling Kara shiver, Lena could tell which were very old and which were new. The former were thin lines, faded and nigh invisible. The latter, like a jagged scar that hugged her ribs, were raised and pinkish with healing. 

“Does it hurt?” She inquired, not daring to ask how Kara had come by such an horrific wound. 

“Sometimes.” Kara moved again, unbraiding her hair. It fanned like a golden shroud across her shoulders. 

Lena sighed at the sight, realizing that — untied — it was longer than she’d imagined. 

More for her to grab a hold of. 

The thought shot through her with the suddenness of sparks from a stricken flint, and it must have been reflected in her eyes, because Kara grinned, entirely too pleased. 

“You’re beautiful.” Kara’s hands were on her too now, mapping every inch. Stroking in places where Lena had never been touched by another. “So beautiful, Lena.” 

“So are you.” Kara tilted her head back, one hand cradling her nape, the other finally cupping her breast. Wet kisses were placed along her jaw, the underside of it. Over her pulse. 

“Are you sure about this?” Just when Lena had started to think Kara was going to help relieve the ache she’d felt steadily built between her legs, the  _ misthios _ withdrew, eyeing her carefully. “If you’d rather, we can wait. I’d be content to just hold you.” 

“Liar.” Lena countered, the tips of her ears burning bright red as she shot a pointed look to the crux of Kara’s thighs. 

She was still kneeling on the bed, legs apart. Enough for Lena to glean the teasing sight of curly hair, a darker blonde than that on Kara’s head. Made darker still by the arousal she could smell, mixing with hers. 

“I don’t want to stop.” Lena insisted, tugging Kara down so that she was pinned under her weight, the sellsword’s thigh parting her to press against her center. She was slicker than she’d ever been when dreaming of the first lover she would take. 

Looking into Kara’s eyes and seeing the adoration there, Lena knew she couldn’t have picked a better one. 

“I think—” Lena’s throat was tight all of a sudden, every word a struggle. “I think I may be in love with you, just a tiny bit.”

“Just a bit?” Kara’s tone was all light teasing, but her eyes had grown dark and so deep Lena could very well imagine losing herself to their secret currents. Or maybe she was flying, the blue of Kara’s eyes a mirror for the sky. “All I’ve ever done since meeting you is love you.” She admitted, and her voice was uneven like an uncobbled road. 

Gently, Kara swiped her thumbs across Lena’s cheekbones, wiping at the tears she’d not realized had gathered there. Lena had no words to articulate what she was feeling, but nobody had ever looked at her that way. Not her father, even though he’d loved her. Certainly not her mother, for whom she’d been nothing but a chore. 

Not even Lex. And she knew he’d given her all the love he’d been capable of. 

Their lips met again and again as Kara’s hand roamed her body freely. As she touched her in return, clutching at her shoulders when Kara trapped her pulse between her teeth, sucking on it softly. Each time it was an homecoming, and a revelation at the same time. A mole on Kara’s chest Lena spent long minutes kissing. The tiny scar Lena had on her chin from when she’d fallen off a tree when she was five. 

It was too soon for everlasting promises, and so as they learned what made one of them cry out and the other bury deeper in the pillows they exchanged only sweet nothings. 

Then, when it started to feel they ought to have reached Phokis twice over, Kara straddled one of her thighs, a hand flat on Lena’s clenching belly. 

The feeling of Kara’s body bearing down on her steadied her and terrified her at the same time. Lena knew what was to happen next; she felt Kara’s hand creep lower. 

“Relax.” Kara kissed the corner of her mouth, dipped her head to capture one of her nipples, rolling it between her tongue and the roof of her mouth until Lena didn’t know whether she wanted to arch and give Kara further access or puddle into the cot beneath her. “I’ll be gentle.” She lowered her head again, and Lena’s nipples puckered further in anticipation. 

When Kara paused to cup her breast again and run calloused fingers over it, a jolt shot through Lena’s spine. It bent her like a sapling in high winds and she arched into the touch, biting her lip furiously to swallow back a moan. 

“It’s alright.” Kara nuzzled next to her ear, puffs of warm air causing the finer hairs at the nape of her neck to rise. “Let them hear it.” 

The mere idea should horrify her, but instead it brought the pool of desire between her legs to a boiling point. Lena wanted to press her thighs shut, the steady beat at her core achingly pleasing and uncomfortable, but Kara didn’t let her. 

“No.” She cautioned softly, hand squeezing around her hip. “Let me take care of it for you.” 

“I could ask to do the same for you.” Lena said more boldly than she felt. Her voice was but a croak. 

Yet she had spoken true. 

Kara was wet too, Lena could feel it drip all over her thigh. Every now and then Kara’d grind down lightly, but seemed unaware of what she was doing. 

“I asked you first.” A smile stretched across Kara’s lips, so wide and bright Lena had no other choice but smiling back. “But I’m sure you will. Just, later.” 

Lena racked her brain for an adequate response, but Kara’s fingers had reached her cunt, carding through the hair crowning her mound, and the fleeting touch was enough to rob her of speech entirely. 

She could only pant, little whimpers shaking in her chest as Kara parted her. 

True to her word, she touched Lena softly and full of reverence, coating her fingers in slick before delving a little deeper. This was all new to Lena — she had never even touched herself. Not once. It wasn’t out of fear or shame. Just. Imagining how it would feel had seemed enough. 

She had been wrong, of course. Nothing her young mind had conjured up for her even came close to the reality of it. Kara thumbled through her folds expertly, spreading her slick from the twitching nub of flesh she had no name for but that burned as though coals had been stuffed under her skin to her opening, further below. 

“Ready?” Kara shifted, as if she intended to drop down and kiss her  _ there _ . Add her mouth to her fingers — Lena didn’t think she’d survive if Kara did that. 

“Please, just—” She closed her eyes too tight, and color bloomed behind her eyelids. “Please stay? Up here?” 

“Hey.” When Kara did shift, it was to lie on her side next to Lena. Her hand remained cupped around her cunt, working her up slowly, rolling her swollen folds between her fingers before she tugged on them lightly. Lena was awash with slick. Ocean overflow.

“Lena, open your eyes.” A kind hand shaped around her jaw, stroking softly. “Look at me  _ αγάπη μου [my love]. _ ”

Kara’s hand stilled, and only when Lena opened her eyes, turning her head to lock stares with the  _ misthios _ , did she enter her. 

*** 

Hours must have gone by. No. Days. Years. 

Kara had made her come twice already, fingers curling deep inside her. Making her see stars. 

Now she had shimmied down, nudging Lena’s legs further apart with a toned shoulder and was pressing tiny kisses along the crease of her inner thigh, getting ever closer to her center. 

“No more.” Lena fisted a handful of her hair, trying to stall her progress. “I can’t—” 

“Just one more.” Kara argued, licking the trembling swell of her thigh with the flat of her tongue. “Then I’ll let you rest, I promise.” 

As thought to underline her words she rubbed her cheek right through the mess of Lena’s wetness, uncaring of the slick that ran down her cheek and chin as a result. 

She took Lena’s folds in her mouth, sucking on them in turn, rolling them gently against her tongue the same way she had with her fingers. 

The way Kara licked at her slit was a gentler feeling than that of her fingers. Pleasant in a different way. Lena could easily imagine how it'd break her if Kara decided to use both in tandem, but her lover seemed content to lap at her juices, tongue dipping inside her briefly before she slid upward, lips sealing around the aching bundle of quivering flesh Kara’s fingers had so expertly teased into stiffening.

Lena nearly screamed, hips bucking violently at the sensation. Had Kara not been so strong, she’d have thrown both of them off the bed. 

Undeterred, Kara pushed her down and  _ sucked _ , effectively throwing her over the edge.

Her third and final climax was the most violent. She struggled in Kara’s grasp, hips rocking into her mouth, the ship heaving under them both. Kara simply lapped at her release, catching everything she could, what she wasn’t quick enough to drink down pooling on the cot. 

As the pleasure ebbed away, flowing like the tide, it left her woolen-headed. Limbs tingly and heavy with a tiredness she’d never felt before. It went down to her bones, but it didn’t make her feel at all weary. Simply, Lena wanted to curl up in Kara’s arms and let herself be held forever. 

Her lover was, apparently, of the same mind, because after one last kiss to her mound she dragged herself up Lena’s body, gathering her to her chest. 

“Wait,” Lena tried to protest, feeling sleepy. “I haven’t— I didn’t—” 

“Shhh.” Kara soothed, kissing her with tenderness. “It’s alright.”

Tasting herself on her lover’s lips, Lena couldn’t refrain from licking at the stickiness, and Kara let out a choked little laugh. 

“We’re not in Phokis yet,” she reassured. “We have time.” Errant strands of hair were smoothed away from her brow and tucked behind her ear. “And more time beyond that.” 

***

Lena didn’t know where Lex was. If he’d fallen victim to this… cult, or if he was an active member. 

She had no idea of what waited for them either, but watching Kara stalk sure-footed across the bridge as the ship drew into port, she knew what she’d already found. 

**Author's Note:**

> [join me on Tumblr](https://kendrene.tumblr.com/) for more stories and gay nonsense!


End file.
